Special Stage (Sonic the Hedgehog 2)

Tails running through the Special Stage in American promotional artwork.

Special Stages in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 are a series of extra levels. When entering them, the playable character will run down an endless, half-pipe highway littered with bombs and hard curves. During this, the player's perspective is switched to behind the playable character. The player's objective in the Special Stages is to collect enough Rings to clear different sections and eventually obtain a Chaos Emerald.

Description

Statistics

Playable characters (story mode)

Number of acts

7

To enter the Special Stages in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the player has to hold fifty Rings while passing a Star Post to open a Star Circle. Jump into the Star Circle while it is open to enter a pseudo 3D half-pipe in the Special Stage. There are a total of seven different Special Stages in the game, each containing a Chaos Emerald at the end of it.

Within the Special Stages, the playable character(s) constantly runs down the half-pipe route. Moving left and right is done with , and running off one edge on the half-pipe makes the playable character leap to the opposite side. Additionally, the player can still use the Spin Jump, although performing it in the half-pipe's corners moves the player a little sideways.

Along the half-pipe are several Ring formations which the player must collect in certain amounts. Along the path are also Bombs, each taking away ten Rings from the player when touching them. Bombs appear in various formations, some of which surround the whole path; in such cases, the player can jump over them. As the player clears more Special Stages, the navigation difficulty and the amount of Rings needed to be collected increase.

Each Special Stage's route is cut into three sections which the player can only progress through by collect enough Rings. When the player come across a checkpoint on the route with the required amount of Rings, the player moves onto the next section and must collect a new amount of Rings. Otherwise, the player gets rejected from Special Stage. The character(s) used to play the Special Stages determines the number of Rings required. After clearing the third section, a Chaos Emerald will be given to the player. The result screen then plays, showcasing the player's Ring Bonus and Gems Bonus being added to the total score. Afterwards, the player returns to the Star Post of the Zone with no Rings in their possession. This is excluded in Knuckles the Echidna in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, where Knuckles will retain the number of Rings he had before entering the Special Stages.

After getting all seven Chaos Emeralds from the Special Stages, Sonic/Knuckles can transform into Super Sonic/Super Knuckles. In addition, the game's ending will change.

In the 2013 re-release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the Special Stages have been graphically re-modified into 3D. If the player activates the Level Select code, they can play a track from 00-07 (inclusive) in the Sound Test and then replay the corresponding Special Stage from Level Select (00 plays the first Special Stage, 01 plays the second Special Stage and so on). An eighth Special Stage has also been added which has a more challenging layout and can only be accessed via this method.

Ring requirements

No.

Emerald color

Checkpoint 1

Checkpoint 2

Checkpoint 3

1st

Blue

30 (Sonic or Tails)40 (Sonic and Tails)30 (Knuckles)

70 (Sonic or Tails)80 (Sonic and Tails)70 (Knuckles)

130 (Sonic or Tails)140 (Sonic and Tails)130 (Knuckles)

2nd

Purple

50

100 (Sonic and/or Tails)90 (Knuckles)

140 (Sonic and/or Tails)130 (Knuckles)

3rd

Red

50 (Sonic or Tails)60 (Sonic and Tails)50 (Knuckles)

110 (Sonic and/or Tails)100 (Knuckles)

160 (Sonic and/or Tails)140 (Knuckles)

4th

Pink

40

110 (Sonic or Tails)100 (Sonic and Tails)90 (Knuckles)

150140 (Knuckles)

5th

Yellow

50 (Sonic or Tails)55 (Sonic and Tails)40 (Knuckles)

90 (Sonic or Tails)110 (Sonic and Tails)80 (Knuckles)

160 (Sonic or Tails)200 (Sonic and Tails)130 (Knuckles)

6th

Green

80 (Sonic and/or Tails)70 (Knuckles)

140 (Sonic and/or Tails)130 (Knuckles)

210 (Sonic or Tails)220 (Sonic and Tails)170 (Knuckles)

7th

Gray

100 (Sonic and/or Tails)50 (Knuckles)

150 (Sonic or Tails)190 (Sonic and Tails)100 (Knuckles)

190 (Sonic or Tails)210 (Sonic and Tails)140 (Knuckles)

8th

Blue

80 (Sonic or Tails)90 (Sonic and Tails)80 (Knuckles)

190 (Sonic or Tails)210 (Sonic and Tails)190 (Knuckles)

270 (Sonic or Tails)280 (Sonic and Tails)270 (Knuckles)

In the 2013 re-release of Sonic 2, if the player is playing the Special Stages as Knuckles and Tails, their Ring quotas are the same as Sonic and Tails.

2 Player VS mode

Some of the Special Stages are available in 2 Player VS mode of the game. Here, the players compete against each other to collect the most Rings in one round. These Special Stages are identical to the ones in 1-player mode. Also, if both players each win one Act of a Zone in multiplayer, it will be settled with one last Special Stage playthrough.

Overview

Game appearances

Description

Statistics

Playable characters (story mode)

Number of acts

6

Special Stages in Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure look almost identical to those in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. To enter these Special Stages, the player must hold at least fifty Rings when reaching the end of the first act of each Zone and then jump into the Giant Ring there. The type of Special Stage the player is sent to depends on which Zone the player enters from (e.g. entering from Neo South Island Zone takes the player to the first Special Stage).

Because there are only six regular Zones with two acts (including Sky Chase Zone and Aerobase Zone), the game only has six Special Stages to earn six Chaos Emeralds from. The seventh Emerald is acquire through normal gameplay.

The Special Stages in this game follow mostly the same rules as those in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Here, the player has get through three half-pipe sections by collecting enough Rings at different checkpoints while avoiding Bombs. Inside these stages, the player can do the Spin Jump and run around the half-pipe. However, the objects inside the Special Stages are laid out in formations different from those in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Additionally, there is sometimes a flashing flower along the routes which grants a Continue.

Ring requirements

No.

Emerald color

Checkpoint 1

Checkpoint 2

Checkpoint 3

1st

Blue

30

70

130

2nd

Green

30

70

130

3rd

Red

40

80

150

4th

Yellow

40

80

150

5th

Pink

50

90

150

6th

Gray

40

80

140

Music

Name

Artist(s)

Length

Music Track

N/A

N/A

1:31

Trivia

In the Special Stages of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, if the player controls Sonic with Tails, there will be a slight delay when the computer controlling Tails tries to follow Sonic's movements. This can lead to Sonic being able to avoid Bombs while Tails fails, thereby costing the Rings both playable characters have collected.